2 families mark milestone birthdays on New Year's Day

Staten Island Advance Photos/Anthony DePrimoIt was a happy new year for Dawn and Thomas Bartkowski of Eltingville, the parents of Staten Island's first baby born in 2010. Alexandra entered the world 21 inches long and just shy of 10 pounds -- 9 pounds,15 ounces -- when Dawn gave birth at 1:11 a.m. on New Year's Day in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.Connie Rafter turns 100 while the Bartkowski family welcomes Island's first baby of the new year

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As Connie Rafter celebrated her 100th birthday dancing with friends and mingling with three generations of family, Alexandra Bartkowski lay cradled calmly in her mother's arms viewing the world for the first time under a pretty pink knit cap.

It was a happy new year for Dawn and Thomas Bartkowski of Eltingville, the parents of Staten Island's first baby born in 2010.

Alexandra entered the world 21 inches long and just shy of 10 pounds -- 9 pounds,15 ounces -- when Dawn gave birth at 1:11 a.m. on New Year's Day in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

The newborn with the full head of dark hair let out a brief fuss when her mother put the knit cap on her head, but quickly calmed down and looked into newspaper and TV cameras through tiny squinting eyes completely unfazed at her status as the day's media sensation.

"It was very exciting," Dawn said sitting in a chair in University Hospital's Pediatrics Unit with the newest of five children in her arms and her husband at her side. "I was very surprised to see that she was the first baby in Staten Island."

After all, Alexandra's due date was New Year's Eve, according to the obstetrician who delivered her, Dr. Alex Giannakakos.

"We never thought of it," Dawn said. "Some people always joked, 'Maybe you'll be a New Year's baby,' but I always said no because I always go early."

"As long as it didn't happen before Christmas," noted Thomas Bartkowski, a supervisor with the city Department of Transportation.

Connie Rafter celebrates her 100th birthday by dancing with family friend Erich Weber of Kingston, N.Y.100 YEARS YOUNG

Across the Island inside the recreation room at Sts. Cosmos and Damian Adult Home on Bruckner Avenue in Mariners Harbor, Connie Rafter gave new meaning to the term 100 years young.

Born Concetta Mastriano in Brooklyn on Jan. 1, 1910, "... sometime after midnight," she recalled, Connie moved to Staten Island 40 years ago following the death of her husband, Patrick Rafter.

Connie was a founding member of Eltingville's Holy Child R.C. Church, still attends as a lifelong member and it's very likely she would still be caring for herself in her own apartment if her 92-year-old sister Anna didn't need her at Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

When she arrived at the home at the age of 98, workers still marvel at the way Connie went right to work scrubbing floors, washing walls and cleaning rooms.

"The doctor said I still have all my marbles," Connie said with a smile.

"She's amazing. She still has everything," said grandson Patrick Rafter, who drove down from his home upstate to take in his grandmother's birthday party with his son Jonathan, 15, who was equally amazed at his great-grandmother's stamina.

"I'm here for her," Jonathan said.

Dressed in a neatly pressed gray-and-black-checked pantsuit with a white blouse and sporting a wrist corsage dotted with baby white roses, Connie danced to an assortment of Beatles, Temptations and Glenn Miller songs played live by a guitarist who entertained the residents gathered in her honor.

When a huge white birthday case emblazoned with "Happy Birthday Connie" in red icing was rolled out, Connie showed off her lungs by effortlessly blowing out all 11 candles.

"One for every decade, and one for good luck," said the home's social worker, Roseanne Saad. "To know somebody 100 years old is a gift. God bless you."

An easy smile appeared on Connie's face when she was asked for her secret to longevity.

"I don't know," she said with a laugh. "I work hard."

Asked for advice she would give to kids today, Connie didn't bat an eyelash with her reply.

"Go to church," she said.

One hundred years -- give or take a couple of hours -- was all that separated Connie from little Alexandra Bartkowski today, but the centenarian's sage advice to "go to church" hit home to the Island's first mother of 2010.